Saskatoon man remembers magical moment with Gordie Howe

Ben Fawcett wasn't even eight years old when he met Gordie Howe.

Back in 1993, Fawcett was at SaskTel Centre (then Saskatchewan Place) to present Howe with a painting. At the time, Howe was making his return to the city after being gone for years, and was being honoured by the Saskatoon Minor Hockey Association.

More than 20 years later, Fawcett doesn't remember much from that night. But he does remember the excitement around meeting the greatest hockey player to ever come from Saskatoon.

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"What I distinctly remember is the amount of focus and attention that he placed towards me," he said. "It was like the adults in the room ceased to exist."

He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew what the day would mean to me.- Ben Fawcett

While it may look like Howe is knighting the young boy with his hockey stick, he's actually hooking the seven-year-old, typical of the rough-and-tumble style of hockey Howe was best known for.

"I think he tries to be comically intimidating, to children especially," he said. "He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew what the day would mean to me, and he wanted to leave a lasting impression."

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Fawcett admits to forgetting about the picture for years, until he stumbled across it and posted it to Facebook.

"To see the photo all these years later, it was great," he said. "And I had to share it with my friends."